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I have been watching the entire GamerGate conflict mostly from the sidelines for the past month or so. It has been a distressing and interesting conflict to watch. While my personal take on it is that for the most part, GamerGate should continue endlessly, I also believe there is inherent value in seeking a mutually beneficial resolution. I think that the ‘large’ games media sites need to undergo a cleansing and review. I also believe that their staff need to re-evaluate the messages that they seek to put out. Below, I intend to outline what can be done, in my opinion, to get the most value out of a peaceful (but not painful) resolution.

I think that, firstly, a number of prominent people in the games media need to either willingly step down, or be removed from their positions. This includes people like Leigh Alexander of Gamasutra, for her racist, toxic attitude to gamers and other human beings in general. Ben Kuchera, of Polygon, for abusing his position in games media in attempts to bully others into taking a certain position, should also step down or be removed. Kyle Orland, of Ars Technica, should also step down. He was involved in the JournoList scandal and admitted that GamesJournoPros was modeled after that.

Kyle Orland’s response to Gamergate exposure

Those three people have betrayed public trust in such a way that they can no longer be trusted to have the best interests in our hobby in mind. This is unfortunate that anyone would have to lose their jobs over this. However, when trust is breached in such a way, there is no other alternative route to take. Additionally, people like Anita Sarkeesian who want to push politics into how games are made, need to be shut out of the process on a permanent basis. Games media needs to take the same stance with Anita Sarkeesian as it did with Jack Thompson. On the other side, GamerGate for its part should form into a tangible organization to become a sort of watch dog. In this sense, it would become an ombudsman over games media. It would be meant to become an organization that is targeted at keeping the industry honest. This would apply to the media, the publishers and developers regarding their products. It would also serve as a way for more people to get into games media through new outlets.

Lastly, let’s get back to talking about and playing video games. This is our collective hobby, and GamerGate has been tiring for everyone involved.

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I have been a gamer ever since I can remember, starting with the Sega Genesis and original Nintendo consoles. I graduated to frogger on an ancient IBM home PC, and then onto Sim City 2000. In 2004, I got into shooters and MMOs. I haven't looked back since.
Professionally, I am certified in private security. In my spare time, I dabble in information analysis and study geopolitics. I sometimes write at my own blog at keithelwood.com.